Community home

sroughley · ‎27-03-2022

Been quite familiar with my Vodafone Wi-Fi Hub Router for some time now. I frequently use the UI to enable/disable kids devices and configure the guest network. It has always been quite easy to use until recently. My Xbox is connected via Ethernet and has had perfect service since I installed the Voda FTTP service. About a month ago my Xbox started experiencing connection issues. I have tried replacing the cable, wiping the console and resetting the Vodafone Wi-Fi Hub to factory defaults. The only thing that works is the router factory reset. For what its worth this only affects gaming services and is also affecting gaming services from other devices. If I reset the router to factory defaults it will work for a few days then it stops and needs resetting again. Also I have noticed the router admin portal has become intolerably slow. It now takes as much as 5 minutes to access one screen in the admin portal. For instance, if I try and navigate in the portal from the default 'Overview' page to the 'About' page, this simple interaction takes 5 minutes to complete. This never used to be slow.

All of this has led me to believe either something has been reconfigured from the ISP end that is having a huge impact on the router, or the router is quite simply dying.

I have tried to get onto support for weeks now but no one is ever available to help.

What should I do? The router is basically unusable and I am relying on my ThreeUK 4G connection for many services now. Its unacceptable.

sroughley · ‎08-10-2022

Update on this... The pain continued and I persisted in analysing the issue. I found a few indicators that proved it was either the gigabox router or the Xbox at fault. The issue would be temporarily improved by restarting the Xbox, usually allowing me to sign-in to Xbox live after a restart but the next time I started the Xbox it would act to again. I ran network diagnostics and found that when the Xbox was unable to connect to the internet the network monitor was reporting very high packet loss. This would happen even when the Xbox was the only active device on the network but simply restarting the Xbox would resolve the issue so I knew it was either the Xbox or router playing up. I figured I'd rule out the router first so I removed the gigabox and installed a TP-Link archer C9 in PPPoE mode and lo-and-behold the problem has stopped altogether. Anecdotally other household members have noticed improved wi-fi stability ever since. I'm closing this as resolved now. I guess I could explore trying another gigabox or investigating why this one was acting up but Vodafone support has been absent at best and I don't have time to pursue it myself.

So, my tip: if you are having Xbox live connection issues, intermittent wi-fi dropouts or seeing obscene levels of packet loss then I'd go straight for trying an alternative router that supports PPPoE. I hope this helps save someone else the same amount of wasted time I've dealt out here 😩

View solution in original position

davebuk · ‎31-03-2022

I don't have a Synology device on my network.

Jayach · ‎31-03-2022

@davebuk I think @Cynric was replying to the OP @sroughley

@davebuk

At one time I found the THG3000 was slow to respond and had a tendency to just "lock up" whilst in the GUI.

Lately it has been fine, I presumed it must have been a firmware update that cured it, so what firmware do you have? Mine is 19.4.0551-3261103 .

Try a factory reset on the router and see if the response improves.

davebuk · ‎01-04-2022

What I meant was I don't have any Synology devices so it's not that. I do have some TP-Link KASA cameras which have caused network issues before so I tried moving one to the guest network. This has made it more useable but still slow.

I'll look to do a factory reset over the weekend.

Do you know if it's safe to reload a saved config. backup after resetting or should I configure from scratch?

Jayach · ‎01-04-2022

@davebuk wrote:
What I meant was I don't have any Synology devices so it's not that. I do have some TP-Link KASA cameras which have caused network issues before so I tried moving one to the guest network. This has made it more useable but still slow.
Yes, I understood that, I was referring to the Vodafone router itself (THG3000), what firmware do you have?

Do you know if it's safe to reload a saved config. backup after resetting or should I configure from scratch?
I would think it is, but I personally like to make any changes by hand, but then I don't have that many to make. I have the default router and Wi-Fi passwords in a text file, so I just have to cut and paste them.

davebuk · ‎02-04-2022

I've done a factory re-set and from the start its still slow. I've slowly added all my static IP addresses in and its taken a long time. Even now trying to configure other things like port forwarding can end up with the web page GUI timing out.

Currently on FW: 19.4.0551-3261103.

Jayach · ‎02-04-2022

That appears to be the latest firmware, so not a problem there.

I have not found configuring the router a problem at all, but others have.

https://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Other-broadband-queries/Vodafone-Wifi-Router-Replacement/m-p/2697587

As I say in that thread setting static IPs took a few seconds each.

davebuk · ‎02-04-2022

I've just turned OFF the "Device Fingerprinting" option and USB device sharing options and everything seems a lot quicker.

I'll see if it lasts over the next few days.

Jayach · ‎02-04-2022

I have both those options set, and I share a USB stick, which works well. Lets hope it helps with your problems.

Community home

I think my Vodafone Wi-Fi Hub is dying